Doctor Who_ The Deviant Strain Part 22

'She can't have been daft enough to follow Klebanov into that sub,' Jack said as they watched.

The flames were leaping high into the air, engulfing the creatures. They thrashed and tried to retreat. But the creatures further back were blocking the way, seemingly unaware of the danger until the flames reached them too. Smoke curled upwards dark and sinister against the night sky.

'What sub?' the Doctor said as the fire crackled and spat.

Only at the very back of the line did any of the creatures survive. One slithered away rapidly, spilling fire and sparks. Another seemed unscathed, waiting patiently while its fellows melted and burned.

'The St Petersburg St Petersburg.' Jack pointed. He had to shield his face from the heat and his eyes were smarting. 'Nuclear job.'

'I told you to keep them away from the missiles.'

'Ah, it's OK. They've all been decommissioned.'

'OK?' The Doctor was aghast. He grabbed Jack's shoulder and turned him to stare into his face. 'OK? h.e.l.lo anyone home in that skull of yours? This is volcano day all over again.'

'Oh, wise up, Doctor. The missiles have been decommissioned, so what can he do?'

The Doctor turned away. For a moment Jack thought he was going off to sulk, but he was looking for someone. 'Catherine!' he yelled, and the woman ran over.

'I think we've done it.' She was smiling and excited, relieved. 'There are only a couple that have escaped.'

'As planned,' Jack told her proudly.

'There'll be more that haven't got here yet,' the Doctor snapped. 'Don't get complacent. Now, tell him about the missiles,' the Doctor said more quietly. 'Tell him about the missiles on the St Petersburg St Petersburg. Tell him what happened to them.'

'Oh, don't worry about them,' she said, unconsciously echoing Jack's words.

'You see.'

'They were decommissioned last year.' She smiled thinly as Jack grinned at her. 'Klebanov did it himself. Insisted.'

Jack's grin vanished. He turned to stare into the flames. 'Volcano day,' he said.

SIXTEEN.

There was light further along. The metal corridor echoed to Rose's every footstep. She could hear the drip*drip*drip of water constantly around her. What light there was bled red through the claustrophobic, pipe*lined tunnel.

She shuffled along as quietly as she could, feet dragging through several inches of icy water. Voices now low and indistinct from up ahead. Where the light was coming from.

Rose had her back pressed against the cold wall. Pipework and cables dug into her, even through the thick coat, as she edged along, closer to the voices and the light. At last, she was just outside what she could now see was a control room. Several of the scientists were grouped round a bank of equipment, trying to coax some life back into it. Klebanov stood watching, ordering, impatient.

'We shall need to recommission the missile,' one of the scientists told him. His face was a hollow husk and his eyes were blank, dark sockets. 'The detonator have to be reset.'

Klebanov nodded. 'Get on with it.'

Rose pressed back still further, closing her eyes tight shut. There was no way that the man the creature that had been a man could miss her as he came out of the control room.

Nothing happened. She opened one eye, just a fraction. There was no one there. She leaned forwards far enough to peep into the room again and now she could see that there was another doorway out of it. That must be the way to the missile bay. And standing beside the door, staring vacantly into s.p.a.ce and ignored by everyone, was Valeria.

'And you think your plan will work?' Jack asked.

'Yeah, no problem.' The Doctor nodded vigorously. 'Well, maybe a few problems, but it'll work.'

'A few problems? What about my risking life and limb to tempt one of those things after me?'

The Doctor sighed. 'Well, of course, if you're not interested in saving the human race I can always find someone else. Thought you'd like first dibs.'

'Cos I got us into this mess in the first place?'

'Look, d'you want a debate or d'you want to save the planet?'

Jack shook his head. 'All right, I'm on it. As soon as the fire dies down a bit.'

The road was still burning, but in patches now rather than a ma.s.s of unbroken flame. Some of the creatures were still moving weakly. They might recover. They might come slithering on again once the heat was off, Jack thought. The one that was unscathed was pulsing angrily at the end of the roadway, as if waiting for him.

'It's dying down now,' the Doctor said.

'I'll give it another minute.'

The Doctor snorted. 'Wimp!' He squared his shoulders and turned towards the fire, grinning. 'Race you.' And he was off, running.

Jack hesitated, sighed, swore, and ran after him. Levin and Krylek, Catherine and the villagers stared after them in astonishment. Two dark figures running through fire...

The dry, emaciated husks that had once been people crowded round the main control panel on the bridge of the submarine. They seemed to have forgotten all about Valeria. Rose could hear the odd comment and observation as they examined and repaired the controls. They seemed to be preparing the systems for a launch.

'Arming procedure under way.'

The important thing was that they were all busy all concentrating on the panels in front of them. Leaving Valeria standing alone and un.o.bserved. Rose edged into the room. Slowly, hardly daring to breathe, she tiptoed over to where the girl was standing.

'We'll need to refuel the launch vehicle.'

Valeria looked back at her through rheumy eyes as Rose put her finger to her lips. Bit daft, she thought, as soon as she did it. Not as if the poor girl would even know what she was doing, and she wasn't about to shout out either.

'That can be done automatically from here. Just as we could close the hatch to deter unwanted guests.'

Gently, Rose took the girl's hand and led her slowly, carefully, quietly across the bridge.

'Just as well. We don't want to be in the bay when the rocket goes up.'

The other door was closer, and if she was going to stop them, she needed to get to the launch bay wherever that was. And she couldn't afford to leave behind a possible hostage. But while Rose was careful to make no noise, it did not matter to Valeria. The girl stumbled along with Rose, her feet splashing in the pools of water on the decking and sc.r.a.ping along the rusty metal.

Mercifully, the scientists were totally absorbed in their work. Rose got to the doorway, pulling Valeria after her.

But the girl's arm caught on the edge of the open hatchway, dragging it with her. A sc.r.a.ping, metallic groan. Rose winced and froze. For a moment none of the scientists seemed to have noticed, just went on working.

Then Klebanov slowly turned to see what the noise was. His eyes locked for an instant with Rose's. His shattered face twisted into a snarl of rage.

'Run!' Rose shouted at Valeria, though she knew at once it would do no good. She dragged the girl through the hatchway after her, then turned back and grabbed the door that had betrayed them.

It was heavy and stiff. Rose heaved with all her might and slowly it began to move grating, sc.r.a.ping, protesting. Klebanov and several of his colleagues were running towards them visible through the slowly narrowing gap between door and hatchway.

A hand closed on the door, skeletal fingers wrapped round it as the withered scientist started to drag the door open again.

With a final heave, Rose dragged it shut. A squeal of rusty metal; a crack of dry bone; a clang of door into frame. Something splashed into the shallow water at Rose's feet. She didn't look to see what it was. There were catches round the edge of the hatchway you could twist them across into a slot in the hatch to seal the door. The first one refused to move.

The second was stiff, but Rose was able to slide it round just enough to keep the door shut. For now.

Already it was shaking as the scientists hammered on the other side and tried to drag it open again. The metal catch was bending, cracking, flaking rust as it split away from the join.

Rose grabbed Valeria's hand again and pulled her down the red*lit corridor.

Jack shivered from the cold while his jacket steamed from the heat of the flames. The fire had all but died away. Some of the creatures were moving hesitantly from side to side, tendrils and tentacles flopping and twitching across the road.

Before leaving him on the quay, the Doctor had told Jack what he wanted, and why he wanted it. It made as much sense and sounded as sensible as any of the Doctor's last*minute schemes. And as usual certain elements were just completely mad. The first and most extreme of these being Jack's mission to get himself chased by one or more of the creatures. The more the better, the Doctor had told him. One was pushing the limit so far as Jack was concerned.

The villagers were soon going to have a problem, Jack could see now. Once the creatures began to recover, once the flames had died away, then the surviving remotes from the ship would be on the move again. Not only that, but while they had been able to see that one of the creatures had escaped injury, Jack could now see several more approaching the docks. Perhaps they had been further away, in the village maybe. Or perhaps the ship was able to generate more of them to replace any that were damaged or injured.

No time to hang around, though. If he stopped to think about it he might realise just how suicidally stupid this whole venture really was. So he thrust his hands into his jacket pockets and walked swiftly along the quay. Whistling.

It seemed at first that the undamaged creature might just ignore him. After all, there was more 'food' waiting back at the dry dock. How close would Jack have to get to convince the thing he was worth chasing? Could he convince it? He stopped whistling and walked slowly towards the pale*blue blob*like creature. It pulsed and quivered as he approached and he was ready at any moment to turn and run.

Still it did not seem interested. If he got much closer he could reach out his arm and touch the thing. Not that he was about to.

Arm. Touch.

He realised almost too late.

Jack leaped back, just as a tentacle slashed through the air in front of him. A tentacle that Jack must have almost stepped on to get this close. 'Clever,' he told the creature. 'But not quite clever enough. Still, dinner's here now so come and get it.'

He backed away, smiling with grim satisfaction as the creature slithered after him. The smile faded as he turned and saw two more of the creatures approaching through the harbour.

'Oh... docks!' he said.

The St Petersburg St Petersburg loomed dark and forbidding against the slate grey of the night sky. Mist curled round the conning tower and over the bulbous hull. The Doctor walked the entire length of the submarine and then back again. He noted where the missile tubes were and where the launch bay must therefore be. He made an informed guess about where the bridge must be situated. He spent a moment considering getting inside through the main hatch. He wondered if Rose was inside somewhere, or whether he only needed to worry about the missiles. loomed dark and forbidding against the slate grey of the night sky. Mist curled round the conning tower and over the bulbous hull. The Doctor walked the entire length of the submarine and then back again. He noted where the missile tubes were and where the launch bay must therefore be. He made an informed guess about where the bridge must be situated. He spent a moment considering getting inside through the main hatch. He wondered if Rose was inside somewhere, or whether he only needed to worry about the missiles.

Then he sprinted for the deck and knelt down by the secondary hatch, close to the front of the boat. His sonic screwdriver whirred and glowed. Blue against rust*brown as the hatch unlocked and swung open.

There was one creature on either side of the road. They sc.r.a.ped and slithered between two of the rotting submarines, perhaps feeling for any energy that might be lingering in the reactors or batteries. The creature behind Jack was heaving itself after him more rapidly, and he was running to keep ahead of the thrashing tentacles.

Running straight at the other creatures.

It was either run between them or dive off the quay and into the freezing water. He'd tried that before and he wasn't keen to do it again. Was there room to get between the creatures? He would soon find out.

Blue glowing walls either side of him. Tentacles slapping down. The walls closing in. The creature behind him following, squeezing between its fellows. Jamming them apart so they couldn't close in on him any more. Jack ducked as something whipped past his head. He kept running.

And emerged the other side. The creatures seemed to have stuck together. They squelched and squealed as they tried to break free from each other and follow him.

Jack could wait. He sat on the low wall that ran along the side of the roadway and got his breath back. 'Sort yourselves out, will you?' he shouted at the creatures. 'We've got an appointment back at the lab and I don't want to be late. Especially,' he added more quietly, 'if this is going to be my own funeral.'

The whole submarine echoed with the metallic clang of the door from the bridge breaking open.

Rose and Valeria were running. Their feet slapping and splashing and thumping on the deck plates. Rose had to drag the girl her natural state seemed to be at rest, so anything else needed effort and encouragement.

Ahead of them was another metal hatchway standing half closed. Rose put her shoulder to it, still running. Her whole body shook and ached from the impact, but the heavy door swung slowly open. Rose was stepping into a large room. It must be the whole width and height of the submarine. A line of blunt*nosed, grey tubes stood on end along one side. They were held in huge metal brackets that were attached to a system of linked chains and belts to move them. Missiles.

And standing by one of the missiles, supervising the attachment of pipes and tubes and examining the open side, were three of the scientists. They turned and stared across at Rose and Valeria.

'Maybe not,' Rose decided. 'Sorry.'

But she could already hear the thump of approaching feet from the corridor behind her. 'Come on!' she shouted at Valeria, hoping that for once the girl might respond. Rose gripped her hand tightly and pulled her into the missile bay, across the room, towards the door on the far side, as fast as she could.

One of the scientists turned back to his work. Another stick thin, face barely more than a skull and lab coat peppered with bullet holes seeping dark, viscous fluid, started towards them. He half ran, half staggered, as if his legs were unused to working.

Through the door, the scientists clutching at them, almost catching Valeria, hissing with anger.

Rose pushed the heavy door shut, trying to close it against the scientists pushing from the other side. But without success. Slowly the door was being forced open again.

Then a hand closed on Rose's shoulder. She yelped, turned, eyes wide with fear.

'Found you, then,' the Doctor said happily.

'You're not the only one,' she told him. 'Give us a hand.'

He shook his head. 'Nah. I want to talk to Klebanov.'

'But they're going to launch a missile.'

'I know.'

The hatchway door was swinging open again and two of the scientists stood there, watching. Between them, across the missile bay, Rose could see Klebanov and the others arriving.